Post by Martina on Oct 28, 2009 13:11:01 GMT -5
Sub-title: Stage Entertainment: a successful challenge
On Saturday 17.10 I went to see “La Bella e la Bestia” in Milan, debut of Stage Entertainment in Italy. And I have to admit even if that was not perfect (as perfection doesn't belong to this world
), it was at least the highest quality that I’ve ever seen in Italy.
It has to be said that SE invested a lot of money in the new adventure of opening a long-lasting show in Italy, and when you can count on a lot of money, you surely can spend more for costumes, sets and so on. But that’s precisely SE’s policy: to offer a high-quality show that can play in the same city for very long, attracting people from other cities as well.
But let’s come to the show.
In "Beauty and the Beast", costumes are really important, since you have to believe that you are watching a talking clock, a candelabra, a teapot... And they are any bit as lavish as the show deserves. Obviously, the most important one is the one of the Beast, but I found that the costumes for the magical object were even more impressive: Lumiere can put on and off his "arms", Mrs. Bric has a dress that really resembles a teapot, but also the operatic wardrobe of Madame de La Bouche, the malicious duster of Babette, and so on are really well done.
The most impressive scene, as far as costumes are concerned, is "Qui con noi" (Be our guest), where all of the ensemble is on stage dressed as dishes, table clothes, cutlery and so on. There is even an acrobatic carpet which reminded me of the gypsys in Notre Dame de Paris.
Anyhow, for a better look at the costumes, you can visit the gallery on the homepage of the show.
The sets as well are very well done; it may be true that the scene changes every seven minutes, as a newspaper reported before the opening night. The sets change from the village and the tavern to Belle's cottage and to the castle, where a rotating stair can become the staircase leading to the ballroom, or to Belle’s room, to the library...
The ball scenes were very good; my personal favourite was "Gaston", where all townspeople were dancing in the tavern with beer glasses, and jumping on and off the tables and benches. I read on the program that the guy playing LeFou (who in Italian is called LeTont – tonto means dummy, silly) is the master of ballet, and you can easily see that he can dance. As I mentioned before, another very impressive scene, ballet-wise is "Be our guest".
Another new thing in Italian theatre was the real orchestra in its pit, which played well, apart from the instrumental parts, like the overture and the wolf scenes, where it seemed to rush a bit.
The lyrics were adapted into Italian by Franco Travaglio, who recently adapted in Italian the Cats production currently running, as well as Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph, and the movie version of Phantom of the Opera. So, he’s an expert, and in fact the texts flow well together and remain faithful to the English texts. I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t use the old lyrics from the Walt Disney movie, but Franco explained to me that these sounded "old-fashioned" because it was full of truncated verbs like "sposar" instead of "sposare", "marciam" instead of "marciamo" (which is an easy way to fit longer words in fewer syllables). So it would have been strange to have half of the text in this "older" style and half of it in a more modern one (the new songs that weren’t in the original movie).
And finally the actors.
Arianna is a strong Belle, very resolute. I read somewhere that she was too old for the part, but actually she seemed ok to me. I don’t think that Belle has to be a naïve young girl, but a woman with a spine. Sure, she spends her days daydreaming and reading books, but she also has to stand up against Gaston and the Beast, so she has to be determined.
Michel Altieri as the Beast plays much also on the comical side of his character, on his embarrassment when he tries to be kind with Belle, as in the scene when he’s expecting her for dinner. Obviously, he has also the more angsty moments, which he does in a very convincing way... And in a growling voice which conveys the animal side of the Beast (but which must be uneasy...
)
The rest of the cast is very good as well. Gaston (Andrea Croci) is so arrogant and rude that you cannot help but dislike him, which is obviously good for the show, since you need a good villain to hate. (to think that once I had almost begun to "understand" Gaston... 
)
All the actors playing the magical objects seemed to be having fun acting; the most charmant was Lumiere (Emiliano Geppetti), while Mrs. Bric was really motherly and caring with Belle.
There were also a couple of scenes that I don’t think were included in the original show. Madame de la Grande Bouche is an ex opera singer (who sang at La Scala in Milan, obviously!) that here and there begins to sing arias from famous Italian operas... and who reminded me of Carlotta from Phantom. Moreover, to hold back the Beast from rushing to Belle’s room, Lumiere sings to him an Italian pop song "Where are you going, beauty on the bike"... ;D
All in all, the show is really good, European quality in Italy for once. Now it has to be seen if it can become a "stable" reality in Milan, also attracting people from other cities, or if it will close in a few months' time. Obviously, as a musical-lover, I hope it lasts as long as possible... And that so SE can get other theatres in Italy and bring more shows... ;D
(it's the fourth time I try to post this review... 
)
On Saturday 17.10 I went to see “La Bella e la Bestia” in Milan, debut of Stage Entertainment in Italy. And I have to admit even if that was not perfect (as perfection doesn't belong to this world
), it was at least the highest quality that I’ve ever seen in Italy.It has to be said that SE invested a lot of money in the new adventure of opening a long-lasting show in Italy, and when you can count on a lot of money, you surely can spend more for costumes, sets and so on. But that’s precisely SE’s policy: to offer a high-quality show that can play in the same city for very long, attracting people from other cities as well.
But let’s come to the show.
In "Beauty and the Beast", costumes are really important, since you have to believe that you are watching a talking clock, a candelabra, a teapot... And they are any bit as lavish as the show deserves. Obviously, the most important one is the one of the Beast, but I found that the costumes for the magical object were even more impressive: Lumiere can put on and off his "arms", Mrs. Bric has a dress that really resembles a teapot, but also the operatic wardrobe of Madame de La Bouche, the malicious duster of Babette, and so on are really well done.
The most impressive scene, as far as costumes are concerned, is "Qui con noi" (Be our guest), where all of the ensemble is on stage dressed as dishes, table clothes, cutlery and so on. There is even an acrobatic carpet which reminded me of the gypsys in Notre Dame de Paris.
Anyhow, for a better look at the costumes, you can visit the gallery on the homepage of the show.
The sets as well are very well done; it may be true that the scene changes every seven minutes, as a newspaper reported before the opening night. The sets change from the village and the tavern to Belle's cottage and to the castle, where a rotating stair can become the staircase leading to the ballroom, or to Belle’s room, to the library...
The ball scenes were very good; my personal favourite was "Gaston", where all townspeople were dancing in the tavern with beer glasses, and jumping on and off the tables and benches. I read on the program that the guy playing LeFou (who in Italian is called LeTont – tonto means dummy, silly) is the master of ballet, and you can easily see that he can dance. As I mentioned before, another very impressive scene, ballet-wise is "Be our guest".
Another new thing in Italian theatre was the real orchestra in its pit, which played well, apart from the instrumental parts, like the overture and the wolf scenes, where it seemed to rush a bit.
The lyrics were adapted into Italian by Franco Travaglio, who recently adapted in Italian the Cats production currently running, as well as Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph, and the movie version of Phantom of the Opera. So, he’s an expert, and in fact the texts flow well together and remain faithful to the English texts. I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t use the old lyrics from the Walt Disney movie, but Franco explained to me that these sounded "old-fashioned" because it was full of truncated verbs like "sposar" instead of "sposare", "marciam" instead of "marciamo" (which is an easy way to fit longer words in fewer syllables). So it would have been strange to have half of the text in this "older" style and half of it in a more modern one (the new songs that weren’t in the original movie).
And finally the actors.
Arianna is a strong Belle, very resolute. I read somewhere that she was too old for the part, but actually she seemed ok to me. I don’t think that Belle has to be a naïve young girl, but a woman with a spine. Sure, she spends her days daydreaming and reading books, but she also has to stand up against Gaston and the Beast, so she has to be determined.
Michel Altieri as the Beast plays much also on the comical side of his character, on his embarrassment when he tries to be kind with Belle, as in the scene when he’s expecting her for dinner. Obviously, he has also the more angsty moments, which he does in a very convincing way... And in a growling voice which conveys the animal side of the Beast (but which must be uneasy...
)The rest of the cast is very good as well. Gaston (Andrea Croci) is so arrogant and rude that you cannot help but dislike him, which is obviously good for the show, since you need a good villain to hate.
(to think that once I had almost begun to "understand" Gaston... 
)All the actors playing the magical objects seemed to be having fun acting; the most charmant was Lumiere (Emiliano Geppetti), while Mrs. Bric was really motherly and caring with Belle.
There were also a couple of scenes that I don’t think were included in the original show. Madame de la Grande Bouche is an ex opera singer (who sang at La Scala in Milan, obviously!) that here and there begins to sing arias from famous Italian operas... and who reminded me of Carlotta from Phantom.
Moreover, to hold back the Beast from rushing to Belle’s room, Lumiere sings to him an Italian pop song "Where are you going, beauty on the bike"... ;D All in all, the show is really good, European quality in Italy for once. Now it has to be seen if it can become a "stable" reality in Milan, also attracting people from other cities, or if it will close in a few months' time. Obviously, as a musical-lover, I hope it lasts as long as possible... And that so SE can get other theatres in Italy and bring more shows... ;D
(it's the fourth time I try to post this review...
)